Breakdown of Dondequiera que vivan los votantes, los escucharemos.
vivir
to live / to be constantly (doing something)
escuchar
to listen
que
that / than
los
them (masculine direct object)
el votante
the voter
dondequiera
wherever
Questions & Answers about Dondequiera que vivan los votantes, los escucharemos.
Why is vivan in the subjunctive here instead of the indicative viven?
The phrase dondequiera que (wherever) triggers the subjunctive when referring to an unknown, indefinite, or hypothetical place. Since we are referring to any possible location rather than a specific, established place where we know they live, we must use the subjunctive vivan.
Is dondequiera one word or two?
It is written as a single word. It combines donde (where) and quiera (the subjunctive form of querer, meaning "might want"). You will also see this same pattern in other free-choice expressions like quienquiera (whoever) and cualquiera (whichever/anyone).
Why is the subject los votantes placed after the verb vivan?
In Spanish, it is very common to invert the subject and verb in relative clauses and dependent clauses, especially after expressions like dondequiera que. Saying Dondequiera que los votantes vivan is grammatically okay, but putting the subject after the verb sounds much more natural.
Why do we use los instead of les before escucharemos? Doesn't "listen to them" imply an indirect object?
In English, the "to" in "listen to" makes it feel like an indirect object. However, in Spanish, the verb escuchar directly acts on the person being listened to. Because it takes a direct object, we use the pronoun los to refer to los votantes.
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